Diamonds In The Rough
by amberpire
Summary: You never thought Jade to be a beautiful kind of person, but you're learning new things. ;Cat/Jade;


You don't really know why you're here. You shouldn't be, really. You have no reason to be. Jade has been nothing but terrible to you since you met. But you can't deny that mother-bird instinct that you've always had - the want and need to help someone when they need it. As much as they try to tell you to go away. Like Jade is now.

"I mean it, Valentine, _scram_." Out of the darkness a pillow soars and lands heavily in your chest. You grab it, twisting your fingers in the gold strings around the edges. Somehow, you didn't think Jade was the stringy-pillow type.

You never really liked Jade too much, mostly because she's so mean. You didn't think she really had feelings other than malice and viciousness, but you saw something else in those black eyes when Beck left her in the hallway and joined hands with Tori. You saw that flicker of pain in those pits of coal, something you thought she was totally incapable of feeling. You watched her body tremble with it and observed with slack-jawed awe as tears formed in those eyes.

Jade could _feel_.

You don't know why this seems to bother you so much. It's not like you and Jade have ever been friends before. It's not like she's ever cared about you when you were hurt or being teased. It's not like she cared about you when she made fun of you, humiliated you, and treated you like you were less than dirt. So why are you here? Why did you follow her when she left the school crying, why did you ask her mom to let you come in and talk to her distraught daughter?

Why are you here? Why are you standing in the threshold of her room, watching Jade sink into the shadows of herself and bury her face in her mattress? Why do you feel so compelled to help someone who doesn't deserve it?

Because you're Cat, and you think the best of everyone. Even the mean people. Even people like Jade. Because you've always known that the people who act like they're tough are really weak inside. You're not sure how you know, but you just have this kind of insight. And you can't help but be sensitive to other peoples' feelings, you can't help but want to cradle them in your arms and brush their fears away. That's just the kind of person you've always been. Nurturing, kind, understanding.

"Cat, are you freakin' _deaf_? Get out!"

Her voice cracks in a way that you can't ignore and you rush to the side of the bed, tossing the pillow you were holding aside. When she lifts her head up to glare at you, it's weak at best, because her eyes are tortured and broken. "Leave," she snarls at you, sitting up slightly like she's going to swing a fist at you and you take the opportunity to move forward and close the distance and hold on to her. She thrashes with surprising strength, screaming against your shoulder but you hold on because you want to help her with this pain. It's just in your nature to do that for people.

And finally, she stops. Finally, she holds onto you just as desperately as you are to her, her fingers digging into your shoulders. Your hand rubs her back and this is the first time you've ever seen Jade as a person because she's always been so ... so far away, so shrouded in darkness. It sounds silly, but Jade's always looked that way to you. Like she's always in the shade, no matter how bright it is.

"It's my fault," she chokes into your shirt. "I'm such a witch to him, I would have left me too. God." She sobs, finally pushing you away and you let her because at least she isn't screaming anymore. You sit on the edge of the bed and just watch her, watch the way she trembles and hugs her knees to her chest like if she doesn't she'll fall apart. "I'm awful," she whispers and your eyes pry through the dark and you see new tears building in her eyes.

"No you're not," you deny and scoot closer to her. Because you hate seeing people in pain and Jade is really hurting. You've never felt the kind of pain she's in, though, and that keeps you from helping as well as you might have liked.

She huffs, turning her eyes back to you. Suddenly they don't look so much like bottomless pits, because with her tears shining slightly in the dark room, they almost look like jewels. Or coal, turning into diamonds. "How can you say that?" And there's no anger in her voice, simply true fact. She doesn't sound mad, she just sounds like she's frustrated she has to confess something like this to you. "I treat everyone I meet like crap. I treat Tori and Andre and Robbie like crap, I treat B-Beck -" She gasps at the name and your hands flutter to her shoulders, keeping her from rolling back on the bed. She swallows and tries again. "I treat you like crap -" And then she pauses, swiveling her eyes at you. "Why are you here?"

And you just kind of stare at her because you don't really know why you're here, you just know you couldn't leave her alone when she was sinking. You had to bring her back to the surface because that's in your nature and it's what you do. You finally shrug and drop your hands. "Because I'm worried about you."

She snorts, running her fingers under her eyes where lines of dark make-up are trailing down like polluted rivers. "Cat, we aren't even friends."

"We can be."

Jade pauses, sniffling as she looks at you. "Yeah?"

You smile at her as brightly as you can manage. She seems a little sickened by it but you think it's probably because she's not used to the kind of happy you possess and are so willing to give. "Yeah." You slip off of her bed and slap your pocket. "I have some cash on me, I'm going to run to the store and get ice cream. Okay?"

Jade's lips almost curl into a smile at that and she lays back down, her face half in the pillow and half out. "Make it neapolitan."

"Will do."

* * *

"It_ is_ my fault though." Jade dives into her bowl of ice cream and you cradle yours on your knees. You weren't really prepared for the impromptu sleepover but Jade lent you a pair of pajamas. They're pink. You never thought Jade was a pink kind of person but you suppose there are a lot of things you don't know about Jade. "I mean, I treated him like crap, like I said. And he was so good to me. He put up with all my bull. Took care of me. And I didn't give him anything in return."

Her voice is sad as she talks but at least she's not crying anymore. "Maybe this is a good thing," you say, bringing your ice cream to your mouth only to freeze when you see Jade throwing you a death glare.

"How, in any way, is this a good thing?" Her voice cracks out like a whip and you freeze, eyes growing wide.

"Well ..." You lower the bowl slowly and twirl your spoon around the lumps of ice cream. "Maybe it's just, you know, time to move on. Find someone new. Enlighten yourself."

"Are you Buddha?"

"Maybe -" you continue, ignoring her. " - it will help you realize that you shouldn't be so - so - "

"Mean?" She snorted, falling back against the pillows of her bed. Now that the lights are on, the colors are actually quite bright. Pinks and purples and blues, which is such a contrast to the black clothing she usually wears. That fascinates you somehow. "Mean is in my bones, Cat."

You watch her face, at the way it suddenly shifted into sadness when she said that. "I don't believe you."

She raises her eyebrows, truly surprised, and turns to look at you. You just stare at her, completely serious, because every person has a side like this: everybody has a side that cries. You know that humans are all linked somehow, and this is one of those ways; we all feel pain and we all cry and we all bleed. We all hurt, and in that we're universal. You understand that without having to think much about it, but some people, like Jade, are resistant.

Jade snaps her eyes away and sighs, looking down into her ice cream bowl. "Well, you're the first person to say otherwise."

"I'm not like other people."

"Oh, I know." And then she smiles at you and it's like clouds are clearing and the sun is coming out.

You never thought Jade to be a beautiful kind of person, but you're learning new things.

* * *

The first time Jade kisses you, you aren't prepared.

You're sitting in her room like you seem to be doing increasingly more often and she's sitting next to you, flipping through the channels on the TV across the room. You're drawing things on her knee, spelling her name and yours on it. Jade's pretty much resumed her usual self, plus you. You're constantly at her side now and it's almost as if she needs you there, as much as she won't admit it. You're okay with that, really, because there's more to Jade than anyone cares to know. Like how her favorite show is iCarly and she has a secret obsession with the Jonas Brothers, how she likes to cuddle at night but Beck never did, and once she's out of school she laughs easier. She told me that she's afraid of other people and that startled you for a long time because you never thought Jade could be afraid of anything, but she doesn't like people. Or spiders.

And you've come to enjoy her company more than you expected. You just came to comfort her for that one night but then she called you the next day and the next and soon you just came over on your own and her eyes aren't sharp and mean to you anymore, they're diamonds in the rough.

You let her cuddle with you at night.

But you're focused on the letters you're drawing on her knee and the last thing on your mind is the possibility that Jade might kiss you. You're telling her about something, something stupid, and then her hand grabs your chin and she kisses you.

The kiss is too hard at first and you freeze, eyes wide against the unexpected gesture. And then you soften and her lips are smooth and warm, her fingers still holding your chin like she refuses to let you move away until she's done. When she breaks it, there's a loud sound of her lungs filling sharply with air. You're panting too and studying her with eyes of confusion and you don't know how you feel, how you're supposed to feel after that, all you know is that kissing Jade was like being electrocuted and you're still trying to regain the functions of your body.

She doesn't speak for a long time and you want to break the wall of silence between the two of you so you open your mouth and twitch your eyebrows and ask, "What was that for?"

And she smiles that smile, the smile she reserves especially for you. "For helping me when no one else did."

* * *

**AN**: It's short and sweet, sue me. I hope you enjoyed it, anyway. I've discovered that I like Jade/Cat more than I let on. There will definitely be more. _Please review!_


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